Homeschool: An American History
by Milton Gaither is an approachable history of home education and homeschooling in America. He covers the first centuries in a few chapters and then focuses in depth on more recent decades. I have been reading about homeschooling for a couple of years now, and was fascinated by his ability to place the books I'd read (or at least read of) within society and the political landscape.I highly recommend this book. I read it very quickly myself and feel like I have gained some excellent perspective of the homeschooling landscape in America's history. I find myself looking at curricula choices in a whole new way, realizing better who developed them and why.
Reading this book also helped me think more about the reasons I want to homeschool, recognizing that we have come to this decision for a variety of reasons and that all of those have some value. Sometimes I find myself caught up in the reasons Catholics choose to homeschool. Not that other Catholics choose to homeschool for bad reasons, but here on the Range, we are Catholics who homeschool as well as Catholic homeschoolers. It is a journey I am glad to make now, rather than a few decades ago.
You can also continue to follow Dr. Gaither's research on his blog here.
